Squash around the world

Squash was first aknowledged as a full-fledged, independent sport in 1883, following the creation of the first court. Thus accepted as a real sport, squash then expanded not only in England, but throughout the world following British migrating patterns.In 1911, codification of the rules of the game and of court specifications led to the harmonisation of all various forms of the game. However this standardisation of the rules was refused in North America, where American “Hard Ball” is still played to this day, with different norms, another scoring system and a harder, faster ball.In 1928, the creation in England of the « Squash Racket Association », the first national federation, led to the organisation of the first tournaments, including the British Open in 1930, and to the appearance of the first professional players in 1950 with the Pakistani trio: the Hashim brothers , Azim Khan, and Roshan Khan. In 1967, the expansion of squash grew worldwide thanks to the creation of the“International Squash Racket Federation”, then comprising seven members: England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and Egypt. The “International Squash Racket Federation” became the World Squash Federation in 1993, with 118 member-countries, and over 30 million players on roughly 50 000 courts.Then, on April 22nd, 1973, the European Squash Rackets Federation was born.In 1974, the first glass back-wall appeared at Wembley Club.